Archer: "Double Trouble"

Season 2, Episode 13

A frustrating ending to a solid finale

“Not really the explosive climax I thought it’d be.”

-Sterling Archer

I wish this wasn't the case, but viewer reaction to tonight’s episode will most likely be swayed by the closing moments, not just because it is the freshest memory in their mind from all of the night’s proceedings (as is usually the case for most episodes of television), but also because the closing minutes almost seem to be a statement for how we are to view the whole episode. (And odds are a second viewing will hold up far differently now that you know how it ends.)

For me, I can’t shake the feeling that Katya’s death is a bit of a cop-out, a way for the show to have its cake and eat it too. Though I never really bought into the fact that Archer loved Katya as he said – I believe that he believed it, but he’s too selfish of a person to really ever love someone – I do believe that he could have been “happy” (or something like that) with her, that their marriage could have led to any interesting dynamic, one that the show could have had fun playing with when it returns late this fall. And so ultimately the end just pisses me off, not only because it seems to disregard all of the plot that came before it, rendering it all essentially useless, but also because it squashed a mine of potential plot lines. (If, however, we see Archer turn into an even shittier version of him next season, I might be able to forgive all of this. But only maybe, and only a little bit.)

I think this plays into the problem that Archer has been having this season of trying to introduce elements of pathos into its episodes. Like those moments in “Tragical History” and “Stage Two,” the ending left me feeling torn between sympathizing with these characters and laughing at the circumstances of the whole thing. Yet the problem is compound here by the fact that there wasn’t really enough time left in the episode after Katya’s death for me to even make an educated guess as to which way I should lean. (Whereas with those other two episodes there was enough time to do so; I’m pretty sure I was meant to laugh with the former and empathize during the latter.)

Yet everything else at play here was just fantastic, top-notch Archer. For starters, the show got to have the best of both worlds as it found as way to adequately combine the show’s office humor and spy elements into one nice, neat plot. Actually, now that I think about it, there really only was one plot in this whole episode, only with various sides that had to be shown. This may be technically be a first, depending on how you view some of the other episodes, but I like the sleek effect it had here on the overall plot. I was also grateful that the show cleared up the issue of whether or not Katya was a double agent fairly quickly, because I’m pretty sure the alternative would have been for the show to bounce between whether or not she was one, and that kind of “comedy” tends to make my head hurt.

Elsewhere, we got a kick-ass cyborg Barry, the return of Kreiger’s hologram girlfriend/fiancée and well as the introduction of van, the image of Pam shitting out pool balls, and just a high myriad of other jokes. It may not have been an explosive season finale that we had hoped for, but it was (apart from the ending) another high quality episode worthy of closing off the season that had come before it.

Any other opinions?

Quotes, Etc.:

Questions that tonight’s episode didn’t answer, yet I desperately want to know: What’s Kreiger secret invention? What happened to Carol’s hair?

“Hellooooo.”

“Phrasing, mother.”

“Haha you’re…no, actually that was pretty good.”

“It’s okay, we can hear from out here.”

“Right? Almost as cool as my van.”

“Please tell me you’re into Rush.”

“No words. My words have failed me.” “Then shut up.”

“No, you have actual egg on your face.”

“If I tell you all at once, your head might explode. And your combover.”

“Something about stripes and solids.”

“It’s okay, it was just cancer sex.”

“Oh, you are just your mother all over.”

“Haha. Penetrate deep, destroy from within….Oh, shit.”

“Although that’s probably what you would say if you were a double agent.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve never been this turned on in my entire life.”

“I bet mother was hitting ‘star’ again.”

“And mustaches.”

“Ah, it’s not so bad. You take crossword, catch up with your neighbors.”

“I said don’t take the bridge, dickhead.”

“Reset the fucking meter.”

“The van is like rolling probable cause.”

“I’m scared if I stop all at once, the cumulative hangover will kill me.”

“Apparently how much a tiny ping-pong paddle hurts on a bare ass.”

“Totally being sarcastic about the Gerogia O’Keefe poster. Do not do that.”

“We will talk about it in the van.”

“Well, not here, here. On the terrace.”

“Don’t think him. It sets a bad precedent.”

“They have this technology. Eight years on my secret project…”

“Yeah! 1 for 3 off the roof, bitch.”

“That was my van.”